Teacher Tip: Guidelines for Organizing a Succesfull APE Group Class

Teacher Tip: Guidelines for Organizing a Successful APE Group Class

My school is home to 3 Autism classrooms and 1 Multi-needs classroom.  All of these students attend their General Physical Education class with their peers but I feel like they could benefit from some extra practice. Over the last few years I have been able to use some of my planning periods to provide 25 minute Adapted PE classes.

When planning a group APE class here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Routine Establishing a routine is very important in order for the students to feel comfortable and safe in their environment. They should enter the same way and the class should start the same way each week. I start with circle time. Each time the students enter they find a dot place around the circle in the center of the gym. Then we perform the “Where are you?” song with movements. At the beginning of the year students may need help with hand over hand assistance to perform movements. By the end of the year many of my students can do it all on their own.

I know, I know. Boring. It seems redundant but trust me, IT WORKS! The students love knowing what to expect and you will really see improvements this way. 

I used to have this song on a CD from college but can't seem to get my hands on it these days. In my class the teachers help sing it without music. It goes like this: 

Where are you? (Hide your face with hands)

Here I am? (Uncover your face)

Are you ready?

You bet! (thumbs up)

How you doing?

Better and better. (raise hands up)

Give yourself a hand. (clap)

Head, shoulders, knees, toes. 

Legs, waste, chin, nose

Head, shoulders, knees, toes. 

Legs, waste, chin, nose

Then you FREEZE. Clap, clap, clap.

We repeat this slow, regular and then fast. 

2. Goals After warm-up we do our goal focused lesson. For many of my students with autism their goal is inclusion with their home base class.  For these students we often provide extra practice opportunities to work on the skill they have been learning in class. For my students with more severe physical disabilities we usually focus on their specific APE goal such as grasping or rolling. All of my students participate in the Special Olympics Little Feet Meet so a portion of the class is spent practicing those three events which include running, throwing and jumping.

3. Rewards This time is usually followed up by rewarding good behavior during our goal portion of the class with scooter time. Most of my students LOVE scooters and will do anything to get a chance to ride.  They look forward to this time.  I like to keep this less structured and more of an opportunity for free time. For students who are not a fan of scooters they are rewarded with whatever their preferred PE equipment is. For some it’s the bouncy ball and others love rolling on the mats. Find what works best to motivate your students.

4. Choices My students love to have a choice. Be flexible. Let them choose what color ball they want. Perhaps allow them to choose what order they want to work on their goals in.  Choosing their reward is also a big motivator. For example, when working on kicking have a variety of balls that are different in size, shape and color. 

 

5. Closure  Most students love being in the gym so when it comes time to leave they may put up a fight.  Practicing a consistent closure routine helps the students understand that it is time to leave.  We always end with the parachute.  I let the students shake it and freeze.  Then we practice name identification and direction following by running under the parachute when your name is called.

 

Good luck starting your APE group classes! I hope you will find some of these tips useful.